Mechanical Heart
by SelenetheNerd
Summary: Tired of the seemingly endless loneliness that plagued his heart and mind, Naruto decides to ask one question. "Is it possible to build myself a friend?"


It was under the red-orange light of the rising sun that Naruto worked on his latest project with a near obsessive fervor. He hadn't slept in roughly three and a half days, only ceasing his work to eat instant ramen and hydrate, albeit reluctantly. Even when he went to the Academy during the day, he didn't bother paying attention, as he would more than likely read the content from his school books later in the evening. Instead, his attention would be focused solely on the continually filling notebook he carried with him, simply titled '_Ideas'_, which he cradled like a holy text. Within the pages of the aforementioned notebook lay detailed descriptions, expertly drawn diagrams, and mechanisms so complex that it would give a Nara a headache. One would think that the 'Dead Last' of the Academy didn't have the mental capacity to create such complex formulae, but then one wouldn't know Naruto Uzumaki. The inner machinations of his mind were truly an enigma to those beings not privy to his particular thought process. Not that any tried to talk to the young blonde.

Hunched over a workbench in his living room, he created a chakra thread from his index finger and attached it to his creation. Immediately, the russet head of a fox came to life, the crimson slitted eyes regarding him with their empty gaze. Of course, unlike the great puppet master Sasori of the Red Sands, Naruto took the more traditional route in the art. No need to make human puppets and throw Konohagakure into disarray; besides, he didn't know how to make human puppets...yet.

He flexed his finger and watched as the jaw opened. He twitched his finger and smiled as a seal appeared on the tongue, the kanji for 'fire' within the seal. No one would ever know how long it took to perfect that seal. He looked to the clock that hung over his work station and sighed. He had an hour before he had to return to the Academy for team placements and he couldn't be late. Not that he particularly cared either way. Carrying the head of his fox puppet as though it were a newborn child, he attached it to the body of his creation, taking great care to ensure that everything was in place.

'_What do you think, Kurama?'_ he asked mentally, proud of the tribute of his first real friend.

There was a stirring at the edges of his consciousness, before he became acutely aware of a second presence within the confines of his mind. "_Hm...make it move."_

Naruto created chakra threads from all of his fingers and attached it to the puppet. It sprang to life, easily as large as Naruto. It stalked around his living room floor, carefully avoiding the litter of notes, diagrams, and blueprints. With a grand movement of his arms, the fox stood on its hind legs and began tap dancing, ending the short performance with a flourish. The blonde giggled to himself while Kurama himself rolled his eyes. It'd be a cold day in hell before he ever performed such a ridiculous, but still rather well done, dance. The nine tails were segmented and made of chakra metal, each tail waving idly with a serene peace. All in all, it looked exactly like the great Bijuu, eerily so. The only way to know that it was a fake, aside from the size and lack of chakra, was the ominous clacking that all puppets possessed when the moved.

Kurama gave a grand harumph. "_You got my muzzle wrong."_

There was no way in Yami that he would admit that the damn puppet was virtually flawless.

Naruto snorted. '_No I didn't.'_

"_What's next, Naruto?"_ he asked, impressed with his container and friend's creativity and attention to detail.

The blonde relinquished his control over the puppet before going to his bedroom to retrieve clean clothes. '_Now I shower and go to team placement. Then I come back, give you one last look over before I load you up with weapons and different tags. After that? I'll probably work on the next project.'_

"_Or,"_ the great fox drawled lazily. "_You can get some damn sleep, eat some real food, and stop being a creepy damn recluse."_

Naruto made a noise of supreme irritation as he stepped into the shower and started bathing in water that felt like ice. '_I'm not a creepy recluse, you damn furball. Besides, everyone hates me. So it's not like I'm being missed by anyone in particular; sure I haven't seen Teuchi-oji, Ayame-chan, and Jiji in forever, but they'll be alright.'_

Kurama snorted but said nothing else. Naruto toweled himself dry, brushed his teeth, and dressed. He wore his favorite orange outfit, his black shirt underneath his bright orange jacket, and a knee length black cloak that his a significant portion of his upper body. Walking over to the fox puppet, he marked it with the kanji for 'two' and sealed it into the adjoining kanji on his wrist. Making his way out of his home with his hitai-ate hanging loosely around his neck, he ignored the usual hateful glares aimed at him as he walked towards his destination.

The journey was uneventful, his mind seemingly stalling on his latest idea for a puppet. Sitting at his desk, he opened his notebook to the page with a frighteningly detailed drawing of a puppet that would arguably be the most complex he'd built thus far. The bottom half was that of a massive spider, the top half being that of a woman with white hair and red eyes. The title at the top of the page, scribbled in an elegant scrawl that no one would expect the blonde have: _Project Jorōgumo._

Out of instinct, he blocked a punch that was aimed for his head with his forearm, much to the shock of those in the classroom. "Can I help you?"

"What are you doing here, Dead-Last?" the voice of Kiba rang throughout the classroom, effectively asking the one question that was on the mind of the passing genin.

Not bothering to take his eyes or attention off of his design, Naruto started making marginal notes on the page of _Project Jorōgumo_. "I knew that you were stupid, Inuzuka, but even you can't be blind and stupid. Clearly, I passed. Otherwise, I'd be home working."

Kiba seethed and went to throw another punch. Akamaru went to give a warning bark, but the sound was drowned out by the sound of table breaking and glass shattering. The white dog sighed and sat in his place as an irritated Naruto moved to the back of the classroom since his desk was now ruined. That damn mutt better be glad he didn't ruin Naruto's precious notebook. Otherwise, he would have to reveal just what happened when you pissed off a puppet master.

Iruka Umino came into the classroom with a cut and scratched Kiba. The boy was helped into his seat before the scarred Chunin took his place at the podium. He quickly dove into a speech about how proud he was of the graduating class and what it meant to be a shinobi of Konohagakure. As much as he somewhat tolerated the older man, Naruto ignored him as he went back to working on his place.

'_How do you think this looks, Kurama?'_ he asked mentally.

"_Terrifying."_ he said simply. "_How can you be that good at drawing?"_

'_Imagine how goofy my tribute to you would have looked if I sucked at drawing.'_ Naruto shot back with a slient snicker. '_Besides, it's supposed to be scary looking… kind of.'_

"Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha will make Team Seven. Your jōnin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake." said Iruka.

"Oh, you've got to fucking kidding me." Naruto said at the exact moment that Sakura began boasting to Ino about how true love conquers all.

Kurama, however, was laughing hysterically at his friend's plight. He could hear the blonde ranting within his mind, despite the stoic face he kept on the outside. Threats ranged from forcing Sakura off of a cliff, to making Sasuke into a human puppet, which would mark the end of the Uchiha clan once and for all. All in all, Kurama was highly entertained.

"_Look at the bright side, Naruto."_ Kurama smirked. "_At least you were trained by the old man and that Anbu with purple hair. You can leave the other two in the dust."_

Naruto made a sound of supreme irritation, the second time in a day. '_I might just end my own life and let you eat them both before it comes to that.'_

Kurama began cackling madly again as Naruto sourly made more and more marginal notes, completely ignoring the other genin that left with their respective senseis. Eventually, they were the only ones left in the classroom. Sakura was caught between glaring at Naruto and ogling Sasuke. Sasuke was actively ignoring Sakura and eyeing Naruto rather curiously. He could tell that the blonde was hiding something, and holding back while he did so. His test scores were perfect, not at all befitting the dead last, but at the same time his face was always buried in the damn notebook. What was he constantly scribbling? Normally, the last of the Uchiha wouldn't care, but since the blonde was on his team, he felt obligated to find out.

Naruto, ignoring the both of them, was lost in the vast galaxy that was his mind. He would need an obscene amount of poison and wire string, perhaps a couple hundred senbon. He would have to make mechanism that would allow for…

"Can I help you?" he asked, not bothering to grace the Uchiha with his gaze.

The Rookie of the Year stared at the complicated equations and complex diagrams that seemed to be connected to what looked like a giant spider…? Sasuke, for the life of him, couldn't seem to figure out what the hell he was supposed to be looking at. Meanwhile, Naruto continued making estimates in terms of measurement; Jorōgumo was going to be large enough for him to ride on. The image of him riding into battle upon a gloriously eerily spider-woman hybrid assaulted his mind, making him smirk as he worked. After a few more moments, Sakura joined them. As the smartest kunoichi of the graduating class, she was sure to be able to understand whatever foolishness that her idiotic teammate…

"What is that?" she breathed, clearly astonished by something she couldn't begin to comprehend. She would need prep time, and maybe a consultation with Shikamaru. "How can you understand-"

"Because I'm the one coming up with it." Naruto interrupted, clearly annoyed that he was being bothered while he was in the middle of a stroke of pure genius. Fear that the ideas and features for his newest project would soon stop flowing, Naruto began writing faster, abandoning neatness and spacing in favor of getting more on the page. "It would be obvious since I'm the one writing it."

Sakura felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "Oh please, you could've taken that from-"

"Sasuke?" Naruto made a sound of supreme disgust. "Look at him, he can't understand any of this anymore than you can. And in any case, your precious Sasuke-kun is right there. Kindly leave me to my work."

Sasuke seethed, Naruto's dismissal and blatant disregard for his intelligence was a shot to the pride that he refused to stand for. Before he could handle it physically, however, Sakura jumped to his defence.

"Sasuke-kun is Rookie of the Year." she reminded him. "That automatically makes him better than you, dead last."

"Congratulations." said Naruto dismissively. He seriously didn't care, and they were distracting him. Not that they knew that, since his pen had yet to stop or even falter in its movements. Besides, in the real world titles such as _'Dead Last'_ and _'Rookie of the Year'_ meant nothing. It was only living and/or dead. Success and failure.

Now, before he was interrupted for a third time, he went back to the train of thought he was forced to pause in order to entertain those part of his team. That was… ah, right. He would have to create a mechanism that would expel the wire string in a manner similar to a spider's webbing. But the calculations behind that particular part of his puppet would require precision. At the very least he could make a note of it. In terms of poison, he could purchase some liquids and powers from Yamanaka's Flowers and perhaps seal them in a-

Sasuke slammed his hand on Naruto's desk, preventing him from finishing his thought.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." he muttered, then he turned a vicious glare to the Uchiha. "What do you want now?"

"Fight me," he demanded. "Someone needs to put you back in your place."

"Grow up." Naruto returned his focus to his notebook. "Now please, leave me to my work."

It wasn't a request, nor was it a demand; it was a warning. Sakura glared murderously at the blonde that had the audacity to speak to her beloved in such a way. How dare he! Who did he think he was? Sasuke at least looked a little put off by the statement. His mind was reeling. The dead last dismissed him again. Maybe he could talk their sensei into letting them have a spar. It would be Sasuke's excuse for putting the blonde down for daring to insult a member of the Uchiha clan. With a grunt, Sasuke turned and left, returning to his spot to glare out of the window and plan two sets of revenge. Sakura, on the other hand, remained glued to her spot. She started at Naruto, righteous fury alight in her viridescent eyes. Naruto ignored her. Sakura swore to find a way to have Naruto kicked off of the team. That way, it would just be her and her beloved Sasuke-kun.

* * *

By 7:45, Naruto was already awake and showered, putting the finishing touches on the eight segmented legs of his Jorōgumo. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he went over to his pouch and checked his supplies. Four kunai, twenty shuriken, wire string, three smoke bombs, two flash bombs, and twenty "haze" pellets. Satisfied, he enjoyed a lackluster breakfast of a bowl of cereal. It didn't take him long to finish, and when he washed his bowl, he unsealed his three completed and battle ready puppets.

The first of his creations was in the likeness of a girl, only slightly taller than himself. Her straight, shoulder-length hair was a dazzling white that covered her left pink eye, making it so that only the right was visible. She wore a kimono that hugged her artificial curves in all the right ways. If 'Yuna-chan' was real, there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that she would've been the most beautiful person in Konohagakure.

The second of his creations was another girl, a woman to be precise, that stood more than two feet taller than he. Her eyes were covered by a cloth that kept her eternally blindfolded. She wore a black hooded cloak that covered her red-orange hair. In her arms, a scythe was lovingly cradled. This puppet came to him in a dream where he was chased by the shinigami; a shinigami of otherworldly beauty that wielded a scythe. He knew how to use the weapon himself, but it was the weapon of his beloved 'Sylvie-chan'.

The third and final creation, at least for the time being, was the red-orange fox that was his tribute to his first real friend. The fox that was as large as Naruto himself, study enough to be ridden, but much more combat oriented. He remembered making it tap dance in an attempt to coax a laugh out of the ancient Bijuu. He smiled rather fondly at the memory. After checking their inventories, he sealed them back into his right arm. Yuna-can in the first seal, Sylvie-chan in the second, and of course Kura-chan in the third.

"_Call me 'Kura-chan' ever again and I will devour your consciousness the next time I see you, brat."_ Kurama snarled.

'_Love you too, furball.'_ he snarked.

By eight-thirty, he was making his way to Training Ground Seven. He didn't receive any hateful glares this time because of the early hour. Truthfully, it was at about eight o'clock that the civilian population of Konohagakure woke and opened their various businesses. Still, he enjoyed the clear sky and fresh air. Very few citizens paid him any attention.

"_You should get a girlfriend," _Kurama commented offhandedly.

Naruto raised a questioning brow. '_In a village where everyone hates me?'_

"_She doesn't have to be from Konoha, you smart ass."_ Kurama snapped. "_You just need someone to have a nice relationship with. A strong vixen. Perhaps then you'll stop being such a human hating hermit."_

_'Equal parts ironic and hypocritical coming from you, but_ s_ure thing, Tou-san.'_ said Naruto sarcastically. '_Who knows, you might even get a few grand-kits.'_

The blonde rolled his eyes. Kurama felt like slapping the youth for his sarcasm, but noted that he wouldn't oppose the role of grandfather. Not that Naruto needed to know that. Nor did his blonde container need to know that his heart skipped a beat when he called him 'Tou-san'. If the boy knew, Kurama would possess him, and throw them both off of the Hokage Monument headfirst, his own death be damned.

"You're late," an irritable Sakura grumbled, the loud rumbling of her stomach showing exactly why she didn't have the energy to properly shout. Not that Naruto minded.

Naruto looked up, wondering if she was actually referring to him. He should have been right on time; he left his apartment early enough right? Shock etched itself on his normally stoic features when he saw his white haired jōnin grinning down at him and his team.

'_What the hell?'_ his brow furrowed in confusion. '_How long was I trapped in his own thoughts?'_

For once, Kurama remained quiet, though perhaps her hand his mind on other things.

"Well, you see, I got lost on the road to life." Kakashi said, nodding sagely at his own words.

Naruto nodded in agreement, as he so frequently got lost within his own mind. Seriously, how in the hell did he just lose two hours like that? He didn't even remember making it to Training Ground Seven! Okay, starting now, he was going to be more aware of his surroundings. At least until he got home… then all bets were off.

"In any case," the older man held up two small silver bells. "Your test today is simple; retrieve these bells from me before noon. Come at me with anything at your disposal, and you'd better come at me with the intent to kill. If you don't, you will fail. Begin!"


End file.
